The Office of the Night
by The Eternal Noob
Summary: Giovanni defends a young man in a sodomy trial, drawing on vast, detailed knowledge... perhaps a bit too vast and detailed. Crackfic. Kinkmeme fill. Giovanni/an awful lot of his male associates... and then some.


**The Office of the Night**

**Chapter One: The Visit**

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"On April 17, 1492, the Florentine government set up a special magistracy, the Office of the Night, to 'root out... the abominable vice of sodomy.'"

-_A History of Western Society_, McKay, Hill, Buckler

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"Signor Auditore. _Signor Auditore. _Signor Auditore, please, answer the door."

The female voice grew louder and desperate, the knocking more insistent and echoing through Giovanni's office.

"You should answer it," Maria Auditore murmured, her lips against her husband's neck. "It sounds urgent."

"Aah..." Giovanni grumbled good-naturedly, refusing to release the soft bare flesh of his wife's hips. "Can it not wait?"

"I know you wouldn't leave some poor girl crying on your doorstep, _amore," _she replied with a laugh and a smile, lifting herself up and moving away towards her clothes, unashamed of her nakedness. "Just don't let her into the side room, will you? I'd rather the poor creature not catch any sights she'd regret."

"Of course not, my dear." Her husband replied, standing up to pull his breeches back on. "Un momento, per favore!" He called towards the door as his wife disappeared through the secret entrance.

"Oh, thank God..." he heard the muffled cry, and the knocks ceased. Giovanni threw his robe around his shoulders and checked to make sure that it and his doublet concealed the swelling in his pants-attempting to succor a crying woman would be quite unwise should she realize the state he was in-and hurried out from behind his desk.

Of course, as soon as he swung the heavy door open, the unfamiliar girl attempted to attach herself to his front.

"What seems to be the trouble?" he asked, sidestepping quickly and moving beside the door as if to invite her in.

"Oh, signor..." she sniffled, wiping her nose with a lacy handkerchief. "I'm sorry to bother you so, truly I am, but I-I know you were responsible for saving that Paola of _La Rosa Colta_ from the hangman's noose several years ago with a self-defense plea, and I thought-I just thought-it's my brother, signor, he's been accused of-of terrible things..."

"What things?" Giovanni questioned without judgment, escorting her to a chair with a fatherly hand on one shoulder.

"I, oh, signore, it's-" a hiccup, "it's... well, it's..."

"You can say it," the man said kindly. "I assure you, my lady, I doubt I will be shocked. I've seen many things in my time."

"But it's _dreadful," _the girl gulped. "It's-it's-_sodomy, _signor." And she buried her face in her hands, as if terrified that the banker would strike her dead with lightning for daring to utter the word and know its meaning.

Giovanni choked.

He also heard an unmistakable snicker from somewhere to his left. Luckily, the girl was too busy weeping to notice.

"...Well," he said, clearing his throat, mindful of the girl's distress, "That may be unfortunate, but my lady, it's hardly unusual. Quite a few of our young men find themselves in front of the Office of the Night at one time or another. It is... inconvenient, but it does not necessarily mean they will be convicted. In fact, not many-"

"But they sounded so _serious!" _the girl wailed, blowing her nose into her handkerchief with a sound that resembled a trumpet sounding. "They banged on our door at the height of the day and dragged him out-without so much as allowing him to bring a change of clothes! And the things the neighbors were saying when they took him, signor-ah, _mio Dio-_I will not be able to bear it if they-if they_-please, _signor, God in heaven, help him! I would not ask, but they say that you are kind, and he looked so awful when I saw him. Those wretches beat him, I swear, I'd rip their vile organs off and stuff them down their throats if I could!"

Giovanni blinked, taken aback, and raised one eyebrow disapprovingly. He also heard another snicker, but of course, the girl was still paying no attention. He cleared his throat.

"-Just awful, my mother has been weeping ever since-and father, dear father, he's furious-"

He cleared his throat louder.

"-Hope he doesn't murder Pietro-you see, signor, such terrible things could happen-"

"Well, signorina-"

"-And let me assure you, my brothers would never associate with that sort-"

"SIGNORINA."

She stopped and stared up at him with pitiful wounded-doe eyes. "...Si, signor?"

"You should know that I am not a lawyer, signorina," Giovanni said with gravity, sitting down at his desk across from the young woman.

"No _avvocato_ in Firenze will take up my brother's case, signor." The girl sniffled. "None of the good ones, anyway. The others are all simpletons, _bastardi, _they fall asleep during hearings and then bring clients' families to court for the debts they went into to pay them! I will gladly pay you, quite handsomely, if you can get my brother acquitted."

She had _not,_ Giovanni noticed with appreciation, said that she would pay him in advance, or in the event of a conviction. A more intelligent girl than she'd first seemed, though he knew that no man worth her money would fail to notice the implied stipulation.

"We can worry about compensation later," he said with a wave of his hand. "If I take this case, signorina, it will not be for need of money. Please, pull yourself together. Deep breaths. I am not a man to see others undeservingly executed, but if I am to consider pleading for your brother's acquittal, I will need information. Much of it may seem... embarrassing, or irrelevant, but I assure you that it is necessary, and I will not speak of any of it without need. There, deep breaths. Would you care for a glass of wine?"

"Si. Please," she murmured, still teary, but obediently modulating her breath. Giovanni stood, retrieved a bottle and glass from atop a cabinet, and poured her a measure.

"Thank you, signor." Her voice evened after she took a sip.

"You are quite welcome, signorina." Giovanni replied, settling back down. "I often find that keeping a clear head makes a difficult situation immeasurably easier to deal with. Whenever you feel ready, we can begin to discuss your brother's situation."

"Yes." The girl swiped her sleeve across her face. "Yes. I am ready. Oh, _mio Dio, _thank you, signor..."

"Again, you are quite welcome. You do not need to thank me any more, signorina. Are you certain you're all right?"

"Quite. You are taking my brother's case. Of course I am all right." She stared straight up at him, clenching her fists in her lap.

"Then we shall commence. Come, step outside with me for a moment. I am, as I have said, not a lawyer; I will have to have one of my sons retrieve the appropriate seal."

"Oh." She allowed him to shepherd her from the chair, pulling her out into the courtyard that formed the center of the villa Auditore. "...Oh!"

"Ezio!" Giovanni called to his second son, who was in the process of clambering up the side wall, "Come down here for a moment, _per favore._ I need you to bring me one of my old seals-the one I used for Annette's sister's case. It should be in the same chest as the other ones."

"Ah, certainly, mi padre,"Ezio replied, his eyes alighting on the girl, who was shielding her eyes from the sun with one hand to peer up at him. "Come sei bella, signorina," he said with a winning smile and a flourish as he dropped down to the ground.

_"Ezio," _Giovanni warned.

"Mi dispiace, father," his son replied, unrepentant, "But I must ask, signorina, what is your name?"

"Ah, signor." Though she blushed at Ezio's attentions, the girl was frowning, distracted. She was upset, Giovanni thought irritably, reminded of his own daughter. He would have to have a talk with his son about flirting with guests...

"Signor," the girl said, "I should apologize, I never even told you my name... ah..." She glanced at Giovanni nervously. "It's Cecilia, signor."

"A lovely name," said Ezio.

"Cecilia de'Pazzi."

"..._What?"_

_

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Notes and References:

1. The Office of the Night was a real institution. As if us fanficcers didn't need any _more _excuse to make the ACII guys gayer than fruitcakes, it's historical canon that Florence was positively crawling with sodomy. There's a whole section on it and Italian homosexuality in general in my AP European History textbook, which I'll be happy to type up for PMs if anyone's interested. =3


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